Performance will honor band director

Kassia Micek

Published 6:00 pm, Monday, January 25, 2010

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Cindy Coker Carpenter, pictured here as a flute player in college, is a Conroe High School graduate and former district band director who lost her battle with thymoma cancer March 23, 2009. The CISD Intermediate and Junior High Honor Bands will honor Carpenter during Saturday’s Honor Band concert. less

Cindy Coker Carpenter, pictured here as a flute player in college, is a Conroe High School graduate and former district band director who lost her battle with thymoma cancer March 23, 2009. The CISD ... more

Performance will honor band director

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During this weekend’s Conroe Independent School District Honor Band Concert, the district will kick off a scholarship fund in honor of one of its own.

The Cindy Coker Carpenter Memorial Scholarship will be launched during the 4 p.m. Saturday concert inside the Conroe High School auditorium, located at 3200 W. Davis St. in Conroe.

“Her battle against cancer was an inspiration to myself and many, many people who were a part of her life,” CISD Fine Arts Coordinator Pat Paris said. “She was a product of Conroe schools and she came back to serve the community as a teacher.”

Cindy Coker Carpenter lost her battle with thymoma cancer March 23, 2009. Thymoma deals with the thymus gland and affects the bone marrow. Carpenter had blood transfusions weekly the last two years of her life and her immune system became compromised.

Carpenter graduated from Conroe High School in 1981. She taught at Peet Junior High for 12 years until she resigned in May 2007 due to her illness. Carpenter worked in the CISD for 17 years, with 19 years of total experience as an educator. She served as band director at Houser Intermediate, Mitchell Intermediate and Peet Junior High.

The district commissioned Gabriel Musella, a Tomball resident and Spring High School band director, to write “Cindy’s Letter” to honor the former CISD band director.

“We provided him with some information on Cindy and a copy of the letter read at her funeral that she wrote about why she did the Relay for Life,” Paris said.

The Intermediate School Honor band consists of 116 sixth-graders, while the Junior High Honor Band includes 97 seventh- and eighth-graders, Paris said. Each band will play for approximately 30 minutes.

The Junior High Honor Band will perform “Cindy’s Letter.”

“They audition against each other for a place in the band,” Paris said. “It’s a chance to recognize our highest-achieving students.”